Journal of Riven
by D.J-S.C.Y
Summary: A jounal about anyone who help Atrus with defeating his father and made it back home.


The Journal of Riven

By Scott Yazell

Based on the P.C. Game by

Rand & Robyn Miller

Part 1: Prologue

I was still there, still on that island. I came back to it after I woke up and

refreshed myself in Channelwood. Myst Island was a fantastic place but there really wasn't

much to do there so I decided to pay a visit to Atrus in Dn'i.

He was still writing in that big linking book. When I said hello to him he looked up at me and said:

"Thank god you have returned, I need your help."

I approached a little closer to ask him what was the matter and he told Me:

"There is a great deal of history of which you need to know but I'm afraid

I must continue with my writing."

I asked him was it his own history and he answered by giving me a small

book and saying:

"Here, most of what you need to know is in there. Keep it well hidden."

I took the small book from his hand and put it in my pocket. Atrus then

took a greenish book from the shelf behind him and told me:

"For reasons you'll discover, I can't send you to Riven with a way out but

I can give you this. It appears to be a linking book, back here to Dn'i but it's actually a one

Man prison. You'll need it, I'm afraid to capture Gehn."

Atrus gave me the prison book. The same kind that Sirrus and Achenar trapped themselves in,

thinking they would find more riches and power.

I read about Riven in the Crystal Journal in Rime and I saw a glimpse of it

in the Age Viewer. I realized then that was where Catherine was being held hostage by Atrus's

foe, Gehn. Atrus then said to me:

"Once you found Catherine signal me and I'll come with a linking book to

bring us back."

Atrus finishes writing and turns the book to the first page where there was

a linking panel. For some reason it was fuzzy and distorted then Atrus said:

"There's also a chance, if all goes well, I might be able to get you back to

the place that you came from."

Those final words filled me with some hope. I put my hand on the linking

picture and every thing went black.

Part 2: The Fifth Age

I reappeared in what looked like a booth then suddenly a set of bars rose

up from the ground and caging me in. I was imprisoned, I saw a switch out side but it was

beyond my reach. In the distance there was a large brass cone with a dome on top. Just

then a man cam by, looking around for something, and when he turn to me he gave a look

of unexpectance. He had long black hair, red skin and he was dress in some kind

of uniform. He spoke to me in a peculiar language and had a hard time trying to make

sense of himself. He the pointed to the prison book I was holding and indicated me to

give it to him. I politely refused but he indicated to me that it will be alright and wrenched

the book from my hands. He opened it to the linking page and I tried to indicate to

him not to touch it. Suddenly he winced in pain and slapped his hand behind his neck

as if he was bitten by a bug. He staggered and collapsed then something drag his body

out of my sight. Another person appeared in my view and he was dress what looked

like a ninja jumpsuit. He picked up the prison book and pushed the switch to lower the

cage bars to release me. He then hammered something in the base of the switch to

jam the cage door open and ran off. I went outside to find the ninja but he was

nowhere to be found. I followed a flight of steps to see if he was going up there but to

no avail. At the top of the steps were a bridge, another flight of steps going down, and

an entry to a pentagon room in a rock. I went back down stairs to were the cage booth

was and next to it I found a gigantic dagger that was big as the booth itself. It was

stabbed in the ground forming a huge fissure covered by metal plate. In the center

of the plate was the brass cone. Around it was a metal railing with a lever and a

button on the right side. At the cone's base was a locking pin and underneath the

cone's point was a hatch with five buttons. The hatch was locked and the cone's

point was a lens. I found the other lens at the center of the cone so I looked

through it and all I saw was a close up of the hatch's surface. There was a pipe

connected to the cone and it lead to the rock's wall. I assumed that was where

the cone got it's power source. At the other end of the of the fissure it was uncovered

and I could see it was very deep. I returned to the cage booth wondering what to do

next so I took out Atrus's journal to read. He said everything I need to know was in it.

The dating in the journal was very different from what I know. It was

arranged as year/day/month. It read that after Catherine went to Riven something was

happening to the age. The repairs Atrus made to Riven 30 years ago were failing

and the age was decaying. He tried to revise the age by writing in new entries.

Atrus was trying to get Catharine back from Riven. He told me she was being

held hostage here. Atrus's father made the Riven age but he did a poor job of

doing it and Atrus fix the age a long time ago. The age was inhabited and in

danger of their world falling apart because the repairs Atrus made were only

temporary. Gehn was the foe Atrus told me about and was holding Catherine

as a prisoner here somewhere in Riven. He had his own mission to restore the

Dn'i civilization but it cost a lot of lives from other ages.

Gehn was also Atrus's father and he trapped him here in Riven

for the crimes Gehn committed to many ages he discovered. I found out How

Atrus himself escaped Riven by jumping into a starry fissure with an age book and

linking to Myst. That was when I found the Myst book on my doorstep that night.

Atrus made the prison book by partially cutting off the link between the book and

the age. If Atrus did destroy the red and blue books were his sons also killed or did

they fall into the two ages?

Gehn was described as destructive, short tempered, impatient, and

irresponsible and it was assumed he didn't change in the last thirty years. I finally came

to the part where I freed Atrus from Dn'i and he planned to send me to Riven to save

his wife Catharine and capture his father Gehn. To signal Atrus to come to Riven I

needed to open the Star Fissure after I completed my mission. I assumed that the

metal plated fissure was the one full of stars.

After finishing Atrus's journal I realized, like on Myst I had no other option

but to explore.

Part 3: Temple Island

I had another look around and saw there were a couple more islands in the

distance and they were connected by what looked like rails. I looked down over a cliff and

saw the guard's body, lying unconscious, on a ledge. I took a closer look at the gate switch

and found a similar but smaller dagger wedged in the switch's grove. I climbed up the

stairway again to where the bridge was. Behind it was the pentagon room and in the right

side of the entry was a large button. I thought to press it later that it would close the entry.

I went inside and found that the room was fabulous. The ceiling was covered

with stars, the floor had a five pointed star, the five corners each had a pillar with a brass

beetle on it. There was another exit from the pentagon room but it was closed by a gate.

Beyond the gate was another bridge, spanning across the valley that I appeared, to a

gigantic golden dome with a slit in the middle. At first I thought it was an observatory but it

was so huge.

On each of the three walls were runic writing that I couldn't understand. I

took a closer look at the beetles and found that each of the had a pull string at their bottoms.

When pulled, their wings open up, each revealing an eyepiece and each of them had a

different stain glass picture of a man dressed in white, with his hair cropped and I assumed

the man was Gehn. The pictures told a different story about Gehn. The 1'st one was about

Atrus escaping Gehn through the star fissure. The 2'nd one was about Gehn and five elders,

each in charge of a service: construction, schooling, militia, calculating, and collecting paper

from trees. The 3'rd was about the making of a blank book. The 4'th was about Gehn writing

ages. The 5'th was about Gehn going up to heaven, like Jesus Christ, and the Rivenese

reaching out for him.

Feeling that there wasn't any thing else to find in the pentagon room I

followed the other set of steps going down to a ledge. I saw that the ocean was endless

like on Myst. I saw the bridge spanning across between the two rocks and realized that I

seen the view before through the age viewer in Rime. I found a locked wooden gate that

was blocking the way to a cave and I also found another small dagger like the ones on the

other side of the rock. The gap underneath the gate was big enough for me to crawl under

and enter the cave. The place looked like a few Neanderthals lived there. I climbed the

ladder up to a ledge where another entry way to the pentagon room was blocked by a stone

wall with a peep hole in it. I returned to the pentagon's entry and pressed the large button.

There was a sound of machinery and the room started to rotated to the left within the rock.

The entrance was then blocked by another stone wall with a peep hole. I looked through

and saw the exit to the giant dome had moved to another exit. I pressed the button again to

turn the pentagon and another stone, peep hole, wall blocked the entrance. I looked again

and the exit was back to the second bridge. I pressed the large button a third time and then

the entry was opened. The second exit was blocked by another gate and beyond it was a

closed door. I then understood that this pentagon of rotation was actually a puzzle and I

knew how to solve it. I pushed the button for the forth time and again the entry was blocked

by a stone, peep hole, wall. I went back to the cave to enter the pentagon and found a third

exit that went into another cave. Inside it was a large upside down bowel with two pipes.

One going into the rock wall and another going up through a gap in the ceiling with steam

coming out. On the steam pipe was a symbol plaque of the large brass cone and on the

pipe in the rock was a valve. I turned it and the steam was transferred from the chimney to

the brass cone outside. I returned to the cone to try it out. I pushed the lever down and

pressed the button and, with a rumble, the cone moved down a few inches to the hatch.

I pressed the button again and the cone moved down another few inches. I flipped the lever

back up and reseted the cone back to it's original position. I returned to the second cave and

found another large button like the first in the main entry and a lever on the left side. I pushed

the lever up and their was a sound of a gate opening up. I pushed the second button and the

stone wall closed the exit. I pushed the button again and I was free to leave the cave. I found

the second exit opened but the door was still locked. I found a second lever and a third

button so I pushed the lever down but the door didn't open, despite another sound of a gate

opening was heard again. I pressed the button twice and the main entrance was reopened. I

pressed the first button twice and set the exit to it's original position at the bridge. The bridge

was open to me and I crossed it to the large golden dome and went inside.

There was no telescope so the dome wasn't an observatory. At the bottom

of the dome was steaming water and above it was some kind of large device with five pipes

going from it to the walls in a star like formation. Circling the walls was a catwalk of which I

was standing on and to my right the was a gap in it. There was a wheel on the other side of

the gap so I assumed it was for extending a bridge. On the catwalk's rail was a diagram of

the five pipes with five grids at their ends which I noted as clues for later discoveries. I

followed the catwalk to the lower level and to an exit on the far side of the dome. I followed

the outside walkway and came upon another steam bowel like the one that powered the

brass cone but this one had a pipe going up to a very high and long bridge. A section of it

was drawn up from the dome. I looked a the plaque on the steam chimney which indicated

the bridge was steamed powered. I turned the valve to direct the steam to the bridge but the

section didn't go down to connect to the dome. I returned to the walkway to follow it and came

across a grooved track that went up along side of the dome's wall. Above me was another

bridge with a section missing at where the track ends so I knew I was standing on that section

itself. Between the groove rails was a button that was pressed inside so I didn't have any way to

elevate myself up to the forth bridge. I continued until I reached the end of the walkway where I

could see the second bridge above me. Next to me was a third steam bowel with a second

raise bridge plaque on it so I turned the valve to send steam to the second bridge. I returned

to the place I entered to dome and found a lever in the entry frame. I pulled it down and the

second bridge rose up to a the second floor, where the dome's slit was, and became a

stairway. Since there was yet no way to climb the stairs from the pentagon of rotation I reset

the stairs back into a bridge.

I crossed the first bridge and on the other side of it was a third cave. It

seemed there were many caves in Riven. I walked inside and to my left I found a metal door

and opened it into a room with a caged chair. The cage was shape in a sphere and the bars

rose up to the ceiling as I went inside the room. I approached the chair and sat in it. On the

left arm rest was a lever. I pulled to myself and the cage closed down with a microphone in

front of me. On the right arm rest was a button so I pushed it and the bars started to hum. I

recalled Achenar's Holoviewer/Recorder In Channel Wood and assumed the cage was for

recording Holograms of anyone sitting in the chair. I pushed the lever back and the cage

rose up again. Before I left I noticed two portal like viewers each flanking the exit. The one

on the right showed what looked like some kind of stone platform. The one on the left

showed what looked like a closed exit in a room. Next to the left portal viewer was a switch

so I pulled it down and the door in the viewer slid up opening the exit. I realized that the

platform and the exit were at the far end of the tunnel so I left the room as the cage reclosed.

I came to the end of the tunnel and found a stone door so I opened it and

entered what looked like cathedral. In the front was the opened exit so I knew the stone

platform was out there. In the back was a large circular stain glass window and in front of it

was a spherical cage like the one I found in the room. It was for projecting holograms at a

large scale so I assumed that the large holoprojector made an image of my face when I was

in the Holorecorder cage. Flanking the large holoviewer were two statues of whale like

creatures with tusks and each one of them had a bowel of fruit in front of their mouths. My

guess was that the rivenees worship Gehn as a god and this was the temple. Gehn sure had

a way of using holographic technology to control his subjects.

Finding nothing else of interest in Gehn's Temple I left through the opened

exit and came to the outside platform. I looked around and I could see all three of the other

islands of Riven. They were connected by a network of a double cable system. At the bottom

of the platform was a podium with a glowing blue button. I pressed it and I noticed a

movement on the cables between the island I was on and the one in the distance then a

strange looking, pod like, car came up along the cables to the platform and stopped. The

door opened down and I looked inside to find it was a self service tram that ran along the

cables from island to island. The controls were easy to use. I rotated lever to the right to turn

the tram around then I pushed the power switch up and with the roar of the electrical engine,

the tram took me on a rollercoster ride to the second island.

Part 4: Jungle Island

The tram arrived at another platform just like the one on the first island. When

the tram came to a stop I went out and took a look at my new surroundings. I followed a

pathway, between two rock walls, that lead to a stairway cavern. Before going inside I took

notice of a wooden sphere. It was painted to look like an eye and it looked like it could be

moved so I rolled it up and the sphere made a chirping noise. On the back of the sphere was

a square with the letter K in the left side of it and I noted both the chirp and the square as

clues for future mysteries.

As I approached the cave I saw that the mouth was oddly shaped. The stairway

cavern was dimly lit with small glowing lamp like staffs. When I turned to get a last look at the

eye sphere I saw that the cave mouth was shaped like a frog. Some frogs do make a chirping

sound when they croak. I noted down the frog cave mouth as another clue. I followed the

cavern tunnel to another cave mouth and found another blue button podium for calling the

tram. The other cave mouth was a hollowed base of a tree growing out of a wall of rock and

I found another stairway going both up and down between two rock walls I walked down the

stairs until a came to a lagoon and I found two Riven wildlife.

They had the bodies of seals, flippers of dolphins, long necks, and long duck

bills. Their mouths were lined with baleen like whales have. They were both lying on a rock

in the middle of the lagoon and as I came closer the two animals raised their heads in alert to

danger then they settled back down. I came closer again and they looked up and sniffed the

air for any sign of danger and then settled down again. As I reached the bottom of the stairs

on of the two animals lifted it's head up and made a strange barking sound and then relaxed.

I called the two creatures Sunners because that what they looked like they were doing, just

sunning. When I started to do some exploring around the lagoon the sunners shuffled of the

rock and swam out to sea. I looked around the right side of the lagoon and found a second

wooden eye sphere embedded in a cluster of rocks. Remembering the frog shaped cave

entrance I took a good look at the rocks and they resembled a sort of fish. I pushed the

sphere up and it made low whine sound like a whale then I remembered the two Whale

statues in Gehn's temple. I realized the tusked whales were real and swimming around the

islands. I found another square with a line going across it so I noted it and the whale sounds

for further clues.

After exploring the whole lagoon I found it to be a lovely place but I couldn't

stay long so I returned to the path and followed it to another flight of stairs that lead up to

another tunnel in the rock which was dimly lighted with glowing marbles stuck on top of

sticks. At the end of the tunnel was an exit and out side was a wooden catwalk leading to

a primitive watch tower. A man, inside the tower, turned a crank and a double horned siren

rotated around making low moaning sound. He then waved as to signal someone below and

stepped down out of sight. I didn't walk out of the tunnel yet so I hope he didn't see me and

was signaling the end-of-the-days-work.

I walked along the catwalk to the watchtower and found it empty. At the end of the

catwalk was a ladder, going down to a ledge with an earth encrust basin. I took a look at the

area around me and saw a lake surrounded by high cliff walls of and ancient crater. I climbed

down the ladder to check out the basin and found a third wooden eye sphere in it. The sphere

made a buzzing sound when I turned it and there was a third square on it's back with a curved

line on the left side. On the lower right side of the basin was a spigot so I turned it and water

seeped up from the drain and formed around the sphere in the shape of a bug. I noted down

all three new clues for the next one. I took another look around and saw there was a nearby

village along the side of the crater wall. On a ledge under the village was a metal cone and

next to it, on the edge of the ledge, was what looked like a black metal sphere with wheels

like a vehicle.

I found another ladder going down to another catwalk on the water surface. I

climbed down and followed the catwalk to an alcove that lead to metal ladder going down into

a hole in the water. I looked around and saw that the lake had many holes in it. Not holes like

a black hole or a dimensional rip but like air going down to the surface of the lake and forming

a gap in the water. I know some science but what kind of force would make holes in water?

Antigravity? I noted down the holes for further clues. Underneath the lake were the twin rails

of a track. I knew that the wheeled sphere was over me and the mouth of the alcove was

between two sets of groves so I learned that the black metal sphere was a submarine tram,

that main source of transportation of the lake village. On the other side of the lake was a tall

cone shaped scaffold on the water surface. On my left was a dock on another lake walk and

on my right was a large hut like a meeting center. In the center of the lake was a big rock with

a hinged telescope in it's center. Perhaps to keep watch over the villagers for security.

With nothing else to see I backtracked my way to the lagoon and climbed up

stairs to the top of the rock. At the end of the stairs was a rope bridge going over a small

chasm and next to the bridge looked like a giant axe stuck in the rock. It reminded me of the

giant dagger on the first island and I wondered what the giant weapons really were. I crossed

the bridge and came to a clearing of tree stumps. It looked as if the villagers forgot to plant

new seedlings to replenish the forest. There were insects buzzing around the tree stumps and

there was a network of a railed pathway on the clearing. I went to the cliff and saw the whole

first island in the distance and the third island next to it with the bridge between them. Before

leaving I notice a cart on an underground track. I assumed the fallen timber was transported

somewhere in Riven to be processed into materials like paper for books. I back tracked the

pathway to the edge of the forest which was fenced and could only be accessed through a

gate. Before opening the gate I took notice of a beetle crawling up the frame of the gate. I

touched it and the bug opened it's wings and flew off making the same buzzing noise the

third eye sphere made. I opened the gate and stepped into what looked something like a

scene right out of the Dark Crystal. The railed path lead to a ladder going down to a lower

pathway lined by glowing lamps. The lower path bridged over a phosphorus stream and

further along the path was a patch of blue luminous fungus. The trees were mostly stripped of

their bark and I remembered the stained glass picture of the five elders of Riven, one of them

in charge of collecting paper from trees.

I climbed down the ladder and followed the lower path through a hollow in one

of the trees. Before continuing I took a closer look at the fungus growing next to the path. The

tops of them were glowing blue and there were a few fireflies buzzing around the exotic

shrubs. The place was alien and magical, then I notice a giant knife embedded in the rock. I

moved closer to examine it and glowing underneath the third giant weapon was another small

dagger with a glowing white marble in the hilt. Next to the third dagger was a fourth eye

sphere but with no animal silhouette. The sphere made the barking sound of the sunner when

I moved it up and I found a forth square with a smaller one in the lower left side of it. I was

starting to wonder how many more wooden eye sphere are on the second island. I still

assumed they were hidden code keys to some kind of puzzle but what and where? I returned

to the path and followed it underneath a cutout of a tree trunk with a large spinning dome on

top. I came to a fork in the path and decided to go right. The path lead to an eerie clearing

with a giant, wooden, tusk whale idol embedded in a tree. I wondered what the connection

was between Gehn and the tusk whales. The end of the path was flanked by two small post

lamps that gave off an eerie orange glow. I examined the one on the right and found a pop up

switch on it. I pressed it and the mouth of the Tusk whale idol slowly opened in to a stair

ladder. I imaged if one of the villagers was here to see what happened he probably run away

in superstitious fright. I realized the idol was a secret entrance so I went inside and found a

third tram call button and an elevator. It was not much different from the elevators in

Channelwood. Before riding the elevator I notice a lever on the left side of the upper jaw. I

pulled it up and the idol's mouth closed shut. At least no one will know where I am now. I

rode down to find the second tram station but I wasn't finished exploring the second island

so I rode up to the top of the tree where a sturdy metal catwalk wound though the treetops.

It was a little like being back in Channelwood. The catwalk's railings were lined with glowing

lamps. I walked passed a fork that lead to a post but I wanted to examine the spinning dome

first. The dome was spinning fast and loud but I could tell there was a ring of circles round the

dome. I went back to the fork and examined the post which turned out to be a kinetoscope.

The shuttered viewer focused on the rotating dome circles, creating an illusion of motion. The

circles forming symbols and one of them was high lighted yellow; a circle with a lined eye. On

top of the kinetoscope was a button and figured out that if I pressed it at the right time the

dome would stop spinning. I waited until the yellow symbol was in the viewer and when I

pressed the button not only did the dome came to a stop but it opened in to a smaller gold,

slotted dome. I went to examine the newly formed dome and in the slot was a window with a

five slider bar scale and a button. I looked in the window and saw a book inside the dome.

Like on Myst Island this dome was a place of protection and in order to open it I needed a

combination to the slider bar scale. I wondered if the book was a link to another age and if so

did Gehn used it to escape?

I continued to follow the catwalk and crossed a bridge over a fiery orange

chasm, kind of like the one in the Selentic Age, and a pathway with another tower next to it. At

the end of the bridge I came upon what looked like a watch tower. I went inside and found a

chair in jaw bone of a tusk whale. That discovery told me that the whales were real and the

teeth on the jaw bone indicated that the monster was carnivorous. The chair itself was flanked by

two levers so I sat in the chair and pushed the right lever but it was stuck. I pushed the left

lever and the chair began to rotate and rise. The roof opened up and I was put up on top of

the watch tower with an exact view of the whole lake. This must have been Gehn's thrown

tower and he used it to supervise the activities in the crater. I saw the village on the far cliff

and I could map out the underwater tram track network in the lake. It looked like it went

around the lake and junctioned off at a couple of stops at the large hut and at the base of the

crater wall. Just below the was the tall cone scaffold and I saw that it's base platform was

opened. At the top of the scaffold was a smaller platform and next to it was a catwalk running

along the cliff wall. A narrow plank was between the small platform and the catwalk. I mapped

down the entire area for exploring and then I tried the right lever again and the base platform

slid shut with a loud thud. I made the decision to leave quickly before anyone comes to find

out about the noise so I lowered the chair back in the tower and, quickly, made my way back

to the tree elevator and went down into the tusk whale idol. I thought about escaping from the

second island by taking the tram below but there was still more to explore in the crater.

I opened the jaw and went out to make my way to the fork in the jungle path

and at the edge of the clearing I met a little, native, riven girl. She stared at me for a few

seconds and before I said anything she turned, tripped, and ran away. I gave chase after her

in case she was going to tell someone about me but I lost her at the jungle path fork. I took

the path to another bridge below the higher one and I looked down to get a closer look at the

fiery chasm. It was a breath taking sight as the glowing orange lava ran in the bottom of the

chasm. I crossed the bridge and came upon a wooden gate, similar to the one at the jungle

entrance. It was closed so the little girl must have gone in the other direction. I went through

and found the path with the second tower next to it as I saw over the higher bridge. To the left of

the path was a stairway tunnel and to the right was a blue lit tunnel. Acording to the mental

map of the island, I made in my head, the blue lit tunnel should lead to the village so I took the

right path. The tunnel was lit with blue lamps embedded in the wall and to my right I found a

weather carved window in the rock wall of the tunnel and I could see the endless ocean

outside. On my left was a cave painting of a tall man holding two little men over a couple of

fish resembling tusk whales. Did the riveneses perform human sacrifices to the whales or was

this how Gehn controls the people with fear?

I came out of the other side of the tunnel and walked on the wooden water

walk. I carefully made my approached to the village as the people went to and fro with their

activities. From a distance I saw a mother pick up her child from the edge of the water walk

and scooted him back to the village. I waited for a few minutes until I was sure every one was

in their huts then I made my way to the village. When I reached the water walk dock I looked

at the hole in the water and saw it was no different from the first water hole at the bottom of

the ledge. I continued following the water walk until I came upon some ladders going up to the

village. The huts were made of dried mud and clay and underneath the doors were retracted

planks so exploring the village was no option. One plank was no yet retracted so I

approached the door and knocked but their was no answer. On the left side of the plank was

another catwalk going underneath some huts and emerging at the top of the ledge. I

examined the metal cone and found it was an oven and inside it some kind of meat cooking

over a bed of hot orange coals. Next to the oven was a golden whale shaped stool between

two artistic carved urns. Perhaps the ledge was Gehn's ceremonial place of worship. I

examined the tram and found that it could be lowered down to the base of the ledge where

the tram would be ready for transporting. Next to the tram was a lever similar to the on the

first island. I pushed the lever forward and the tram went down to the ledge's base. I looked

down and saw that the tram was in the first water hole and ready for me to ride in.

It was a long trek back to the ledge's base. The tunnel stairway was a short

cut to the tree stump clearing. The two sunners had returned to the lagoon so I had a little fun

of spooking them and they swam away. I made my way back to the bottom of the ledge and

opened the hatch on the submarine tram and went inside. I experimented with the controls to

find out what they were and how they worked. The lever next to me makes the tram go

forward and automatically stops at the next juncture. The slider switch at the bottom selects

the tracks at the junctures. The rotating handle on top makes the tram turn at 180 degrees in

order to backtrack. I took the helm and the tram slowly started to move and pushed in to the

water wall. I made my first stop at the scaffold but the ladder plank was retracted so I couldn't

explore it yet. My second stop was at the large hut but that pace was also inaccessible. I was

starting to wonder if any place around the lake was opened. I made my way to the side of a

cliff wall that had an open dock. Embedded in the wall were ladder rungs going up to a

lookout balcony at the top. I climbed up to the balcony and inside were five switches on the

back wall and in front was a slit widow with a view if the whole crater lake. I could see were

all the five docks were at. I examined the switches and figured out that they were the controls

for all the docks around the lake. Two ware already on so I flipped up the remaining three. I

looked out and saw all five docks were extended so I climbed down to the tram and made my

way back to my second stop. I entered the large hut and inside looked like a school room.

There were two rows of wooden benches and two primitive looking black boards and between

them was a sphere cage like the large one in the temple on the first island. Along the where

the walls meet the ceiling was a row of pictographic letters. I seen the same writings before in

the pentagon room on the first island so I noted them down, beginning from left to right, to

translate the writing later. There was some more writing on the left black board but I could yet

translate what it read. The cage had a hand crank attached to it and when I turned the crank

a holographic image of a middle aged man appeared in the cage and spoke in a peculiar

language as if addressing the to the entire school. The image went out as the cage's power

went down and I realized the it was the image of Gehn himself. As I was about to leave I saw

what looked like a hangman game on a table in the right back side of the school room. I went

to it to get a closer look and found that it was more like Feed the Fish Hangman Game. Two

wooden figures hung upside down, on two gallows, over a wooden figure of a tusk whale. At

the base of the game was a pull ring and a small window with a square. When I pulled the

ring the wooden tusk whale turned over to the right wooden figure The wooden figure went

down five notches and the square spun and stopped to reveal a line across it. I seen the

same square before on the wooden rock eye in the sunners' lagoon. I figured out that the

squares with lines were numbers and the game was used to teach what the numbers are to

the students. I played the feed the fish hangman game for a while and got all ten numbers

down. The four numbers I found on the wooden eye spheres were:

2 bug, 3 frog, 4 sunner, 5 tusk whale

I figured the four numbers were a code so I noted them down and

wondered if this code would lead me to Gehn?

I left the school hut and returned to the tram dock and I could see the

scaffold in front of my view and thought that was next to explore. I climbed inside the tram, set

the controls, and I was on my way. When I set foot on the scaffold's base platform there was

a loud knock from the hatch. As I looked around to find what caused it I heard the familiar

whine of the second eye sphere coming from underneath the base platform. Across from me

was a small handle hanging from a cable. I gave it a tug and a metal bar was lowered down

from the upper platform. Attached to the ends of the bar was a couple of clamps and I

remembered the feed the fish game in the school. I realized then that the cone scaffold was a

gallows and used to kill wrongdoers by feeding them to the tusk whales. This must have been

Gehn's idea, of controlling the rivenese with fear. The shackles went back up so I pulled down

the handle again to summon them back down. I step on to the metal bar and rode up to the

upper platform and crossed the plank to the catwalk. I found what looked like a prison cell in

the rock wall with a round cage door and inside was a prisoner asleep on the stone floor. He

slightly awoke and glanced at me for a bit and then went back to sleep. Whatever crime he

committed his punishment was just to cruel for justification. Next to the cage door was the

control wheel so I gave it a turn and the cage door slid open. I went inside to help the man to

his freedom but he was already gone. The thought of leaving before the guards come to get

me rushed into my mind but I still wanted to find out how the prisoner disappeared in thin air.

In the prison floor was a drainage grate. I flipped it open to find any clues to

the man's disappearance and in the water I found a pull handle that opened a secret passage

way behind the wall the prisoner was resting on. I went inside and the wall closed behind me,

concealing the passage way. If any guards find the man missing they won't figure out how he

escaped. The tunnel was pitch black and I couldn't see anything until I reached the end of the

tunnel where there was an opening out to the sea. On a stick, embedded in the tunnel wall

was a ball at the end of the tunnel. I saw one like it above the secret entrance. I touched it

and it illuminated the tunnel I found more of the balls and activated them as I backtracked to

the tunnel entrance. At the third glowing ball was a door frame along the tunnel wall. After

turning on the glowing balls I return to the frame and found a stone door carved in the wall. I

pulled the door handle and opened to another secret passage way that lead to a round room

of painted monoliths. In the front of the room, in the wall, was a barrier of water and aligning

the side walls, from the front to the back at the room entrance, was four water ducts. Behind

the water was the number 5 symbol. I counted the monoliths to twenty five and notice they

had creature icons etch on them. I recognized the four creatures represented by the wooden

eye spheres. The five symbol gave me the clue that I needed one more creature icon to make the

code complete. The creature would be number one but I only found four eye spheres. What

was the last place to look? The logging cart. I returned to the secret entrance and opened the

wall. I carefully checked to see any guards in the prison or if the cell gate was closed. So far,

so good, the place was the same as I left it. I followed the catwalk down to a ladder and I

extended it down to the wooden water way that lead me to the village. I worked my way back

to the tree stump clearing where the logging cart was. I climbed down in the cart. In front of

the cart was a railed tunnel and on the side wall was a lever that when pulled down the

logging cart is released and runs on the rails by fulcrum. It was like a rollercoster ride in

Disneyland. The track went out of the tunnel of rock and in to a tunnel under the ocean. The

sea tunnel was made by glowing hot rings, attached the track, making a big long hole in the

ocean like a tunnel. I still didn't understood how heat made water holes. Water is suppose to

boil and evaporate when heated.

The logging cart came out of the water tunnel and ran smoothly on a bridge to

a third island. The cart went in to another tunnel and finaly stopped at a depot station.

Suddenly, the bottom of the cart dropped open and I slid down into what looked like a wood

chipper!

Part 5: Book Island

Lucky for me the machine was off. Soft tissue really gums up the gears. I

picked my self up and looked around to see the new island. It was just a huge crater with a

lake in the middle of it. I climbed down the ladder to ground level to get a closer view of the

surroundings. Next to the wood chipper was a pile of wood shavings, chips, and sawdust.

Not far away looked like a huge broiler hut. I remembered the 3'rd glass stained picture of

book making and realized this is the place where they make them. Next to the wood chute

was a hatch to the wood cart station. I went inside to look around but I didn't find a wooden

eye sphere with a number one symbol on it. I returned to the wood chipper to see how it

worked. I pulled the handle on top of the machine but nothing happened. There was a pipe;

connected to the chipper, that ran out across from the center of the lake. I saw that there were

two more pipes running from the lake to the boiler hut and somewhere behind the top of the

crater wall. A metal grated water way lead me to the lake's center where I found a steam

valve. Just like the first island, this place ran on steam. I turned the valve to the wood chipper

pipe and returned to activate it. The bottom of the bin slid open and several blades whirled

around, cutting at air, and then the wood chipper automatically stopped. I return to the valve

and set it to the boiler pipe and looked around to see the whole crater. Along the top of the

wall, behind the wood chipper and boiler hut, was a big pipe running to something behind the

wall. Behind the boiler hut was another pipe that went up the wall to some where unseen.

Next to the pipe was a ladder going up to and entry embedded in the crater wall. Next to the

entry was a catwalk going along the wall. I returned to the boiler hut and found the door

locked. Next to the door was a heat meter telling me the hut was to hot to go inside. I went

around and found what looked like the boiler control station and after experimenting with the

controls I was able to go inside the hut. This is how I did it:

1. Turn the switch on the right hand pipe to turn off the heat.

2. Next to the widow slit, push the switch up to raise the boiler grate.

3. Turn the wheel to release the pressure.

4. Turn the switch on the left hand pipe to drain the water.

I went inside the hut and found a ladder going down, in to the pipe. Before

going down I went outside to try the ladder going up to the entry but at the top was a balcony

with a locked hatch. I returned to the boiler hut and climbed down into the pipe and crawled in

the darkness until I saw light at the end of the pipe. I dropped down to a worn path,

overlooking the ocean. As I climbed the path I could see a glimpse of a pentagon shaped

building behind a jagged top of the cliff to the right. The path ended at the balcony where the

double door entry was and I unlocked the hatch in case I had to go back down to the crater

lake. I opened the doors and followed a twisted metal walkway to what looked like a trap of

some kind. On the left was a switch to activate the trap and on the left was a small container

of food pellets. Above me was an air duct with a ventilation fan at the opening pulling in air.

I opened the trap and took one of the pellets to put it in and then I pulled the switch but

nothing happened. Then I remembered the crater lake steam valve so I return to the lake and

set the valve switch to the last pipe. I went back to the trap to try it again. The trap was

lowered down by a cable and pulley. I felt I had some time to kill so I went to the balcony to

close the hatch, figuring there wasn't anything else to explore around the lake. The I closed

the doors to cover my tracks I case the rivenese white coats were looking for me. Then I

found two secret passages that were hidden behind the two open doors. I took the left

passage and it lead me to a secret room where I found another rotating dome like the one on

the second island. Embedded in the wall was a small portal lens and I could see a

kinetoscope in another room. I checked the door to the secret room if there was a passage

behind it and I found one leading to the kinetoscope. I pushed the button and the dome

stopped rotating and slid open revealing another linking book. I wondered if there were more

of these domes in Riven. Were they all places of protection? What ages did the books link to?

I remembered the trap and returned to it to see if it caught anything and sure enough it did. I

opened the trap and found an orange frog inside it, making the chirping noise I heard from

the first eye sphere at the tram station. The frog gave me a curious look then hopped away.

Just for fun I reset the trap again and lowered it down to catch more frogs. I took the right

passage which lead me to the cliff top catwalk and along the hand rail was a power cord

with a switch attached. I wanted to find out what the switch turns on or off but the pentagon

building was nearby so I left the switch for later. The cat walk ended at another worn path and

I tried to get inside the place but the door was locked. I tried the switch to see if would unlock

the door but that didn't work so I continued down the path until I entered a cave and on the

other side was the bridge to the golden dome on the first island.

Despite the opportunity to explore the dome I returned to the trap to see what

it caught this time and sure enough it was another frog. It quickly hopped away before I could

grab and keep it for a pet. I still wanted to go back to the first island for more exploring but

there was still that pentagon building I wanted to get in. I thought about how many clues I

would find in there that would lead me to Gehn. I followed the power cable along the hand rail

and then I notice it went up over the rock wall to some unseen machine. I remembered the air

vent in the frog trap cave so I returned there and I found the fan turned off. I climbed in to the

vent and crawled inside the duct until I reached the other end that lead into the pentagon. The

building had five sides like the Pentagon of Rotation on the first island. Three sides had work

benches and two sides each had door. The left one had a blue call tram button and it lead

outside to the catwalk I was on. The right one lead out to a tram station pointed directly to the

fourth island. In the center of the room was a spherical oven and when I opened it I found a

burned linking book that reminded me of Sirrus and Achenar. Like grandfather, like grandson.

I went to the workbench where I came in and examined the items on it. I found a wooden

cover journal with an ink well and pen next to it. There was a unique device of lenses and eye

rings around a small ball covered with stars. Next was a small glass container with two nuts

next to it. Finally, what I've been looking for, was the number one symbol eye sphere but it

had no animal sound and it was removed from where ever it belonged. Underneath the

wooden sphere was a parchment that read:

"87-7-28 Last week, while monitoring the situations of the villagers from my scope in my survey

room, I observed one of the natives swim out to a small object that appeared to be floating, but anchored, near the entrance

to the bay. I ordered the object removed from the water for inspection. Several days later, however, I was surprised to see

another floating there; the missing object had apparently, and quite mysteriously, been replaced with a new one overnight.

I've long been aware of the existence of similar artifacts on the villagers' island, but have paid them little notice until now.

Tomorrow I shall send surveyors to catalog the others."

At least I knew where the last eye sphere was taken from but I had no wish

of going back to the villagers' island so I planed to find Gehn's survey room and find out what

shape of creature the eye was suppose to be in.

I opened Gehn's journal and the first page read about Gehn's frustrations on

writing new ages because of failed ink experiments. The next two pages tell about Gehn's

observations of the star fissure. It seems like some kind of rip in space and time and it had a

breathable atmosphere. Atrus and Catherine escaped Gehn by leaping in to the fissure

leaving him imprisoned on Riven. Gehn had the star fissure sealed for a long time and was

unsure if it was safe to reopen it for if doing so the results would be catastrophic. That gave

me an idea of how to signal Atrus after my mission was completed. But I still needed to find

the thief who took the prison book and find where Catherine was. The next two more page

were about the steam dome on the first island and the illustrations showed me the steam

rising deep from underground from volcanic vents. The next two pages read about devices

called imagers and I saw drawn illustrations of them and they looked like the ones in the

school hut and in the temple. There was a brief description about a person called Keta;

perhaps a friend of Gehn. Next was about Gehn planning to power up his linking books with

something called fire marbles. I recalled the caves, tunnels, and passages were lit with

glowing rocks. They must have been fire marbles. The next two pages read about the number

five associated with the Dn'i culture as if everything to do with Dn'i involved with the number 5,

even with colors. Gehn was studying about the Dn'i six color system and at the end of the

paragraph was six circles with different symbols in them. I seen two of these circles on the

domes so there were four more to be found. I noted down the circles, save the two I already

found. Two more pages read about Gehn's success of making an age and using powered

linking book to go there. Gehn named his new age a big Dn'i number that I couldn't yet figure

out. I knew then that Gehn had escaped and established his office and home in his new age

and was planning to relocate all of the riven inhabitants there. It dawned on me then the

rotating domes were not just places of protection but power systems as well for the linking

books. Gehn had built a dome on each island and the golden dome was the main source of

power for each of them. I noted down the sketches, one of them was the five patterns grid I

found in the golden dome so the grid patterns represented the islands. However, there were

five grids patterns so there was a fifth island that I didn't find yet. Catherine wasn't on the

fourth island so I hoped she was on the fifth one.

For reasons of security Gehn had to install a coded lock on the domes

because a secret rebellion had formed and were sabotaging some of Gehn vital operations on

Riven. The combination to the domes were written in Dn'i in the journal so I noted it down

when I needed it. Many of the rivenese saw them as spirits and they were called the Black

Moiety lead by Catherine herself. Gehn had been studying the daggers the Moiety leave

behind as a calling card. There was a sketch of the Moiety Dagger and it was the same one

as the four I found: The big dagger in the star fissure, small ones at the trap cage lever, the

locked secret cave to the pentagon cave, and the glowing one in the jungle. The ninja who

freed me from the trap cage and took my prison book must have been a Moiety agent so

where was the Moiety headquarters?

Gehn had abandoned his research of the riven water which some how

retreats from heat. Gehn's hypothesis was the water contained a noncellular micro organism

that held bits of water molecules to have shape but he dismissed the idea. Gehn's soldiers,

the maintainers, have captured a Moiety spy and confiscated a crystal device from him. It was

made to power flawed linking books, like the domes, when placed on the linking page of the

age book and Gehn believes that Catherine made it before He captured her. At the end of the

journal was a sketch of the crystal frame. I closed the journal, feeling a sense of satisfaction,

with so much of the puzzle pieces collected and put together.

I got up and went to the next bench on my left which had many more items.

From right to left; There was a part of the frog trap, some pegs that looked like bullets, a tubed

flask, a vial attached to a stand, a small drawer containing some small smooth pebbles which

I assumed were firemarbles, and glass sphere containing water. I turned the knob on it and

the bottom of the sphere lit up orange hot and the water retreated from the heat moving up to

the top. Maybe there was something alive in the water.

On the top shelf were some bottles, jars, vials, more bullets and three

containers with pickled frogs inside of them. I wondered what Gehn does with these frogs?

Does he make ink out of them or eats french fried frog legs?

I went to the third bench and found out it was for assembling books. From

right to left; the was a book press and a book hook, three vials, a page liner, and a slice of a

tree underneath a spyglass. On the top shelf were four more jars, an ink eraser, and some

blank books waiting to be written into. I left Gehn's pentagon and crossed the bridge to the

giant golden dome.

Part 6: Return to Temple Island

I pushed the lever that controls the bridge and the raised section went down

to connect with the third dome entrance. I went inside and I was on another catwalk. I

approached a fourth doorway which led outside to the third bridge. Below was the missing

section and I remembered the pressed in button next to it. I turned around to find another

button like it so I pressed it and the section rose up, like an elevator, to fill the gap. I crossed

the bridge to another closed entry to the pentagon of rotation. Next to it was a lever, like the

ones in the pentagon, so I pushed it up and the door slid up to let me back in the pentagon. I

returned to the golden dome to extend the catwalk to connect to the other catwalk making

them both one. I set the first bridge to stairway mode so I could later explore the second

level. I returned to where the bridge section was and found the button depressed so

I pressed it in again and I was lowered in a passage way that lead outside to another

stairway, that lead to a third rotating dome. I waited for the right time and pushed the

kinetoscope button to open the dome. I figured out the next fifteen Dn'i numbers and noted

them down so I was almost ready to find both Catharine and Gehn. I returned to the pentagon of

rotation and set it to where I could go up the stairs and in the middle of the dome's slit looked

like some kind of starting device. In front of it, embedded in the golden wall was a switch and

when lowered the device presses down on the floor. Behind the switch was a white button but

when I pressed it nothing happened. I lifted the switch back up in order to get a closer look at

the device and underneath it was a 25-by-25 grid. Next to it on the right was a row of six

colored marbles: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. I read in Gehn's journal the he

was trying to adjust the fire marbles to power up his linking books. He needed five out of six

and the number of the marbles matched with the number of the circle symbols. The domes

were some how connected with the colored fire marbles. I took a closer look at the grid and

saw the same grid patterns in Gehn's journal and in the golden dome. More pieces of the

puzzle were coming together but I still need more clues to start the power source. I went back

to Gehn's pentagon building and called a tram to take me to the fourth island.

Part 7: Map Island

I rode the tram to the fourth island and it stopped at the station in a cave.

There was a doorway at the right side of the cave but I needed to rotate the tram to enter it

but instead I went upstairs to an exotic blue-green pool. The island was rounded by several

whale tusks. Monolithic rocks sprouted from the water on either side of a winding metal

walkway. Halfway up the path, an opening carved under the walkway revealed an orange-lit

chamber beneath the lagoon. The metal walkway ended at a stairway that climbed to a

second plateau. This place featured another pool, dammed by a high stone wall. Huge rock

islands sat in the water. From a distance they looked natural enough but I saw rows of spigots

jutting from under their rims. Up ahead was a shear rock wall rising at least 100 feet straight

up. Embedded on top of the wall was a giant sword that made a huge crack, running all the

way down, in the middle of the wall. In the crack was an elevator and I rode it up where a

balcony was hanging from the hilt of the giant sword. On the balcony rail was a control pad

with five buttons shaped like the 25 by 25 grid pattern in the golden dome. Below the balcony I

saw that the rock islands in the plateau represented the four islands of riven. I pressed the

button for the first island and water slowly rose to form a gelatinous 3-D topographical map of

the island. The same thing happened with the rest of the rock islands as I played with the

controls to get more clues. I learned that there was a fifth island on Riven but I didn't know

where it was. I turned off the water gel map and turned to find a man made lake and in the

middle of it was a rusted dome like structure flanked by wooden carvings of tusk whales. I

heard the sound of a rotating dome so I stepped to the left on the lake walkway and found the

fourth dome. I turned to find the kinetoscope on the other side of the lake but when I came to

it I found the pier was warped and the kinetoscope out of alignment with the dome. I was still

able to stop the dome's rotation by pressing the button repeatedly. Next was getting inside the

lake dome but how? I went back to the balcony control panel to try out an idea. I thought that

the buttons may also be connected with the lake dome. I pressed for the third island and the

gel water rose up to form the island. My hypothesis was that the water was controlled by heat

like wood cart tunnel and the lake holes in the second island. I returned to the lake dome to

find a wooden gangplank running to it so I entered the lake dome and found a 5 by 5 grid on

the floor. There was a smaller grid in a handle controlled display console and the third island

grid pattern was highlighted on it. The top left corner button was lit yellow so I pushed it and

the floor grid rose up in a 3-D topographical pin map of part of the third island. I pulled down

the handle to rotate the floor grid to see all the angles of the pin map. I pushed the yellow grid

buttons, one at a time, to see more of the third island pin map. After going back and forth

between the lake dome and the balcony to view all the pin maps of the island of Riven I finaly

figured out how to turn on the power source in the golden dome. The fire marbles correspond

to the rotating domes on each island. By placing the correct marbles on the island grids, in the

same place as the domes, I could start up the golden dome and link to Gehn's 233 age. I was

able to translate the Dn'i number Gehn named his new age. I noted down the locations of the

domes of each island and matched them with the island grid patterns. I also found of what the

fifth island looked like. Kind of like a gigantic tree stump with the roots covering most of the

island.

Since there was nothing else to explore on top I returned to the tram station

to get to the other door way. Along the way I notice the water gel still standing on the rock

island. A very exotic site it was to see. There must be some kind off life in the water that

reacts to heat. How else the water shapes itself?

I returned to the tram station and boarded the tram to turn it around and

enter the second doorway. I walked down a long, majestic designed hall until I reached the

spectacular orange chamber I seen above in the blue-green lagoon. The chamber was filled

with water and the roaring sound gave the impression that their was a fiery chasm far below.

I was standing between two chains and next to me was a lever so I gave it a pull, the chains

dropped down, and a beautiful crafted golden elevator booth rose from the water. The door to

the booth came down like a drawbridge for me to step inside. The interior was simple and

unremarkable. I rode the elevator down through the water and stopped at a long underground

passage. As I followed it, I encountered a hooded old man who was looking in a large book

and when he looked up at me he became spooked and ran down the side corridor. When I

gave chase I entered another tram station and found the old man making his escape in the

tram. My first thought was getting off the forth island before he returns with a gang of

maintainers but I still needed to find what was at the end of the passage. I returned to it and

came upon a long fight of stairs which lead up to an under water room.

The place reminded me of Atrus's book room in Stoneship age. The glass

bubble was embedded in the underwater rock wall. In the center of the room was a thrown

like chair flanked by to sphere topped pillars. On each arm rest was a control lever and the

right had a red button in it. I sat in the chair, pressed the red button and the chair rotated until

I was facing the glass bubble. Being left handed I pulled down the left controller and the left

pillar came down and rested the sphere in my lap. The sphere had a round view screen with

two pentagon buttons and six rings went around the viewer. I pressed the left button and an

image of a room was shown in the viewer. A woman stepped inside the room and then

stepped out of view. She was wearing a white dress and a long, sleeveless, over coat. I knew

then that was Catherine and she was still imprisoned some where in Riven. I explored all four

of the islands so I figured she was on the fifth island but where was it?

I pushed the right button and the viewer flickered and came on again to

show the village lake on the second island. I knew about the Telescope in the middle of the

lake so this place was Gehn's survey room. I thought that the telescope would be moveable,

since it was hinged to the rock. So I tried moving the rings clockwise and then the telescope

moved to the left. I looked around everywhere, from the village dock to the gallows until I

found a painting of a fish on the rock wall. I remembered in Gehn's journal about finding the

eye sphere, floating in the lake near the dock. The fish was number one. Everything was

coming in place. All I had to do was go back to the second island but there was still the golden

dome and I wasn't finished with the survey room.

I raised the left pillar back up and lowered the right one down to see what

was in it's sphere viewer. Like the left one, this viewer had six rings around it but at each of

them was a pentagon button with a circle symbol on each one. The camera for this viewer

was underwater and the buttons could only be pressed at the bottom of the viewer where

there was a pentagon frame. The buttons were coordinated with the domes on each island,

the circle symbols were the six color codes for the fire marbles, by putting the right marbles in

there proper place on the island grids I would start up the golden dome and power up all the

fire marble domes and link to the 233 age to capture Gehn. I pressed the button for the first

island and in the viewer was a light bulb lit green. I pulled down the button for the second

island, pressed it, and the light bulb was red. The red light bulb was just outside the glass

bubble. Just then a tusk whale came swimming by. It was an amazing site. The monster had

a huge hump all the way down from head to tail. The mouth was flanked by two tusks and the

face was like that of the sperm whale. The tusk whale stopped to look at me. And then swam

away. I turned on the red light again and the whale returned as if it wanted something from

me. After two more visits the tusk whale charged and banged it head against the bubble.

Lucky, the glass didn't break but the monster left with a headache.

I completed in finding the right colors for the fire marbles except that the

light for the third island was broken and the color circle symbol for the fifth island was

unknown. With the clues for the island grids incomplete I decided it was best to return to the

second island and unlock the secret in the cave. I went to the tram station and recalled the

tram back. So far, no maintainers but I still can't help with the thought of that old man setting a

trap for me. With a little courage I stepped in the tram and returned to the second island.

Part 8: The Moiety Age

The tram pulled in to the second tram station and I was expecting some

maintainers waiting for me but still nothing. I rode the elevator back up to the tusk whale idol

and came out of its mouth. Still no welcoming committee of Maintainers. Perhaps they waiting to

surprise me. I went to the path, leading to the village and there was a maintainer keeping

watch in the look out tower. He saw me and sounded the alarm before he disappeared from

view. I had to move fast to complete my mission or I would meet Gehn in bondage. I raced to

the village dock where the ladder was still hanging. I climbed back up to the catwalk, ran in to

the prison cell, and entered the secret passage. I was safe from the maintainers for a while

and I returned to the moiety room ready to enter the code. I found the right monoliths and

pressed them down in the right order and the water wall began to quiver and ripple. The water

ran through the ducts in the side walls and gathered around the entrance. The Dn'i five

symbol opened up and a stone slab slid out with a burned linking book on it. On the linking

window page was a flat crystal. Just as Gehn's journal described, it was a crystal linking

frame to open links in flawed books and burned books. If I had one of these crystals I would

use it to link to the ages that were burned on Myst Island. Hopping to find more clues to were

Catherine prison was I put my hand on the linking frame and reappeared in the Moiety Age.

I was standing on a beach in front of a cave in a rock wall. The place was a

huge wide crater, almost bigger that the third island. Their was a lake of gray murky water in

the crater and in the middle of it was a huge tree with a giant mud hive absorbing it's

branches. The hive was dotted with lit windows so I figured the tree was Moiety headquarters. I

could see the entrance at the tree's base but I had no way of getting to it. Inside the cave was

an effigy of Gehn with several Moiety Daggers stuck around it. I the effigy's hands was an

open linking book back to riven with another crystal linking frame on it. As I made a closer

look at the Gehn statue I heard voices behind me and I turned around to find the escaped

prisoner and the ninja coming at me. The ninja raise a blowpipe to his mouth and before I

could make a gesture of peace he shot a dart and it hit me in the chest. As the two men

cautiously moved towards me I felt dizzy and everything went black. I opened my eyes, still

feeling fuzzy from the knock out dart. I was in a row boat with the two men who captured me

and they were rowing to the tree. The one in front pointed at something and said a peculiar

word in rivenese. He glanced at me and then returned to rowing. Feeling fatigued from the

drug, I fell asleep.

I awoke from the drug sleep. I was in a dimly lit room. There was a table with

an empty dish. Outside the window I saw where I was captured. The door to the room was

locked from the outside. I looked out the door widow and found I was inside the hive. The

place was like a village. Every tree branch had a mud hut on it. In one of the huts I saw, from

the window, a villager pacing around as if someone was talking to him. Next I saw the ninja

walking the base of the hive as if on guard duty. I returned to the bed, waiting for what was

next and then a woman entered the room. She spoke rivenese to me but I caught the name

Catherine from her speech she set two books down on the table and one of them was the Dn'i

Prison book. Before she left she indicated me to wait for her to return. I checked to see if the

prison book was alright and it was. I opened the smaller book and it was Catherine's journal.

She arrived in Riven, which is her home world, A Moiety agent zapped her

with a blow dart and took her to there secret hideout. I found a note from Catherine in her

journal and it read that her friend Nelak will return the book, which she did. I should be careful

with Gehn, although he will think it is a linking book back to Dn'i, he has his suspicions. Gehn

has a combination code to Catherine's prison and it is somewhere in his office. I shouldn't

signal Atrus until I find her and set her free. I put the note away and returned to reading

Catherine's journal.

Catherine was glad to be back with her people again and she sensed they

needed her help with Gehn. The Moiety was formed as a separate society from Gehn's rule

and it was inspired when Atrus and Catherine confronted his father Gehn at the star fissure.

They both threw themselves in, with the Myst linking book, and entrapping Gehn in Riven for

the rest of his life. Since then many of the Rivenese thought Catherine to be a god and Gehn

to be a false idol. Catherine didn't like the idea of being worshiped by her own people. She

wanted to serve them, rather than being served.

The Moietys' ranks have been increasing as Gehn's power has been growing

They have been living in undiscovered cave and tunnels and cut ties with anyone who won't

join with the rebel group. They commit acts of sabotage, spying, and burglary.

As I read on, learning more of Catherine's adventures, I came upon another

five Dn'i code that would open the hatch to the star fissure. I noted down the code and

translated it. More of Catherine's journal reads that she wrote the giant daggers in the Riven

book and she made the Moiety age out of one of Gehn's burnt books. But I still didn't learn

where the fifth island was or where Catherine was imprisoned.

When I put the two books away The woman returned again with another

book and a crystal linking frame. As she spoke in her native language I understood that I was

to hurry and complete my mission. She set the book and the frame down on the table and

with a somber look on her face she hope I would find her friend Catherine and free her

from Gehn. As soon as she left I looked in the book and saw it was the link back to Riven. I

put my hand on the linking frame and I returned to Riven.

Part 9: The 233 Age

I carefully made my way back to the first island. As I entered the temple

Gehn's image was in the large holoprojector. As it shut down I realized I was about to meet

him, face to face. I ran to the holorecorder room but no one was there. I checked the bridge to

see if anyone was on it but still nothing. I carefully looked into the pentagon room but no one

was there. I looked around the golden dome and still nobody. I figured then that Gehn's image

was really just for scaring unwanted intruding rivenese. I returned to the second level of the

dome and with the answers and clues I gathered, I put the colored fire marbles in there right

places in the island grids. I pulled down the switch, the starting device pressed down on the

grids, I pressed the white button and the whole place thundered followed by the humming of

power turbines. I returned to the first island's fire marble dome, slid in the right five number

code, pressed the button, and the dome reclosed around me, sealing me inside with the book.

On the left side of the books pedestal was a step button that would reopen the dome from the

inside. I opened the linking book and the linking page showed a planet with a reddish sky and

several islands with mountains resting on hills. The linking page then showed a large dish

antenna like structure on top of a hill. I knew then that was Gehn's office. I was ready for him.

I put my hand on the picture and I linked to the 233 age only to end up as a prisoner. I was in

a cage in a round room. Around the cage were five podiums with linking books that have the

five island grids on them. On one linking book was the link to the fifth island. In front of me

was a round table like desk supported by two pillars. To my right looked like the oven in

Gehn's pentagon lab. To my left was the door way, behind me was a ladder well and a switch.

Between a couple of bars was a buttoned plate with the five pointed design I seen in some

places on Riven. I pressed the button and the design lit up. Out side the window I saw a man

coming up to the building and entering the room. He was dressed in white, wearing a splendid

jacket. He took off a pare of goggles from his eyes and set down what looked like a shot gun

on the table. He looked at me and apologized for the cage I was in and introduced himself as

Gehn. He recalled about the actions he made and the crimes he committed and he regrets he

tried to murder his son Atrus. He tried to convince me that over the years he had changed but

I didn't believe him. I have seen the tyranny of Gehn on Riven and how he abused his power.

Gehn told me that Catherine was making some competition with him and that she was

becoming like a god to her own people. He captured her and, for the good of the rivenese,

imprisoned her. Despite that the rivenese were hostile in nature Gehn told me he had become to

be close to them. I knew in reality that Gehn was the hostile one. Gehn told me that his

measurement of Riven's steady break up indicated to him that Riven was in its final days and

if he didn't relocate the people it would be the end for them all. In secret, I knew that

Catherine had a plan to relocate the rivenese to the Moiety age. After more discussion with

him Gehn asked me if he could see the Dn'i linking book. I gave it to him hoping he would link

in the trap. Instead he looked through the pages and began to look concerned of how the

book was written. I asked him what was wrong and then he held up the book to me and ask

to go through first. Reluctantly, I did and I was in a void of nothing. There was no time, no

space, no matter, no energy. I knew then how Sirrus and Achenar felt. The book opened and

I could see Gehn getting ready to come in after me. He had a look of sternness on his face

and in his had was the shot gun. He put his had on the linking page and I reappeared in the

233 age. I was outside the cage, thank goodness for that and I finaly captured Gehn. All I had

to do then was find Catherine and free her but first I wanted to explore the room. I went to the

switch and pulled it down, then the cage dropped in to the floor. I opened the book to the fifth

island but the linking page was a black blank. Between Gehn's table and the door was some

kind of round device on a pole. On top of it was a large button and when I pressed it the

device sang an eerie, sorrowful, song. Ignoring it I continued to explore the room so I came to

the desk. On it was a blank linking book, a beetle shaped ink stand, a pen with stand, an

empty glass with a bone inside it. Next I examined the furnace and found a lever at it's base. I

slid it to the other side and the furnace roared to life and powered up the linking books. I

finaly had a chance to go to the fifth island but I remembered in Catherine's note about the

combination to the prison was in Gehn's office. There was nothing else to find in the room so I

climbed down the ladder to Gehn's bed room. There wasn't much to find there. On the base

of the window was another holoviewer. I turned the crank handle and an image of a young

beautiful woman appeared inside. She seem to know Gehn a long time ago and mentioned

his name in her odd language. Next to the widow was a was basin and on the other side was

Gehn's bed. Next to the bed was a drawer and inside it was extra bed sheets. On top of the

drawer was another journal of Gehn and a fine designed metal ball. I examined the ball and it

made some clicking, dinging, and buzzing noises then it opened up revealing a ticking

cylinder. I figured the ball was some kind of alarm clock but I noted down the sounds it made

before it opened. I looked in Gehn's second journal and it read about Catherine returning to

Riven but was spirited away by the Moiety, frustrating Gehn to capture her. Yet his hope of

returning to Dn'i was raised up when he knew that Atrus would, in time, follow after to rescue

Catherine. I learned that the tusk whale is called a wark and to the rivenese it is a beast to be

feared, like the leviathan. Gehn captured a few of these monsters and used them to keep the

people in line and order despite the influence of the Moiety.

Gehn was troubled by the fall of Dn'i and he blamed his, mother who was an

outsider, for it's destruction. His father was an important man and he sent his son, Gehn, to a

school called the guild of book makers.

Gehn had captured Catherine and put her on the fifth island. He tried to get

what he wanted to know from her and succeeded a little. She wouldn't tell him about the

Moiety. Gehn has lost much in his life including a girlfriend named Keta, his one true love. Her

image was in the holoviewer and there was a picture of her hanging on the wall next to

another picture of an old man wearing a similar jacket like Gehn's. He must have been Gehn's

father as Keta may have been Atrus's mother.

Gehn did know I was in Riven ever since I linked to it. One of his assistance

told him about me and Gehn decided to wait and observe.

I went back up the ladder in the round room, opened the fifth island linking

book and reappeared inside a dome.

Part 10: Prison Island

I stepped on the floor button and the dome opened up letting me out and

sealing in the linking book. I looked around and there was a walkway leading to the island. It

looked exactly as I saw it in the grid pin map. On top of the stump was a watch tower with a

rotating antenna. I followed the walkway to a tunnel going in to the tree stump. At the end

there was an elevator with bars and behind the bars was the combination lock. It had three

buttons and a slider. I pressed the buttons and they made these sounds:

Left, clank. Middle, buzz. Right, ding.

Next to me was a hanging handle so I pulled it down and the elevator went up

to a room I seen before in the third island. Catherine came in from the back way and was glad to

see me. Before she asked about how I passed by something she looked up at the survey

camera and then approached close to me. She whispered about the combination lock, which I

already solved, and about the risky evacuation of the villagers to the moiety age. She backed

away and said: "Go then! If you won't help me I have nothing more to say." I knew she was acting just

to fool the surveyor who was watching her. I went down to the combination lock and put in the

right sounds, according to Gehn's clock ball. The bars slid open and I went up where

Catherine was waiting for me and told me to go to the star fissure to signal Atrus while she

would lead the villagers to the Moiety age. I let her have the prison book and she saw Gehn

trapped inside and with a smile she said we were free. I let her link first then I waited for a few

minutes and then linked back to the 233 age. The cage was back up but the book were still

powered. All the linking pages, except for the first island book, was rip out of the linking books.

I returned to the first island and made my way to where I first arrived in Riven. I numbered the

buttons on the hatch one to five and entered the combination from Catherine's journal. I

opened the hatch and looked in the telescope to see a field of stars in the fissure. I pulled

down the lever, pressed the button, and the telescope cone went down a notch. I looked in

the telescope again to see what the stars looked like up close and I saw a glimpse of a

black cloud coming across the star field. I lowered the telescope down another three notches

until I could see the black cloud in full view. It looked like more of a hole in space than a cloud.

Perhaps it was a link way to other worlds. I released the block from the telescope's base and

took one last look around the exotic age and pressed the button one last time.

The telescope broke through the glass. The plate cover began to crumble

way and the telescope was sucked in to the fissure. The sky began to darken. The ground

trembled. The metal plates fell way. The Giant Dagger fell into the fissure. Then, in the booth

Atrus appeared and run up to me. He asked me where Catherine and the book was then she

appeared around the hill and embraced Atrus. She told me the villagers were safe in the

Moiety age and handed Atrus the prison book. They both thanked me and Atrus took out a

linking book and Catherine Disappeared into it. Atrus told me that we might meet again and I

knew were to find him. As he linked away I looked down in the fissure and as the ground

stared to break up I jumped in and I was falling in space. I looked up to see the fissure, in

another black cloud, as I fell away from it. Then I felt I was lying upon grass so I got up and

found my self in my own front yard.

Part 11: Epilogue

I went inside my house and saw everything was as I left it. The Myst book

was on the coffee table and as I was about to put it away I looked at the clock and found I was

gone for only two hours. I went outside again to see the fissure but it was gone. It was still

morning. Where I was laying in the grass I found another book and it was the one that Atrus

and Catherine escaped to from Riven. The book was titled Tomahna and I thought that was

Atrus's new age. I put it away in the book shelf next to Myst and then started to write down

this journal. I don't know if I should tell my friends at work about my adventures. They might

think I would be pulling there legs. Still, it was very exciting and I don't think I would have such

an adventure like that again. Then again I knew where to find Atrus.

THE END.


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